


Infestation

by sonneta



Category: Fringe
Genre: Case Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 02:59:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonneta/pseuds/sonneta





	Infestation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rheanna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rheanna/gifts).



BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Tim Johnson ran the last leg of his trip from work. He was running late - again - and he wanted to make it into the office before his supervisor noticed he was missing.

"Hold that elevator!" He yelled as he entered the lobby. He rushed into the elevator, which was occupied by only one other man.

"Hey, thanks," Tim said, once he had recovered his breath. Then he looked at the man. He'd never seen this guy in the building before. In fact, he looked out of place in his shabby clothes and derby hat.

Tim shook off the slight feeling of unease that came over him. Perhaps the man was applying for a job, or visiting a friend. Nevertheless, Tim sighed in relief when he came to his floor.

When he stepped off the elevator, Tim suddenly noticed a feeling like his skin was crawling - no, wait, it was more like something was crawling under his skin. He ducked into the men's bathroom next to the elevator. He had allergies, but they had never caused something like this before.

Tim unbuttoned his shirt sleeves at the wrist and rolled them up. _What a weird feeling_, Tim thought to himself. He turned on the sink faucet - and let out a scream when he saw that there really was something - somethings - crawling just underneath his skin.

\---  
Peter, Olivia, Walter, and Astrid followed Philip Broyles into the morgue.

"Tim Johnson," Broyles said. "He was an accountant. Found dead in the men's bathroom on the fifth floor this morning. It looks to be self-injury."

"So why'd they call us?" Olivia asked.

"Because there's something inside him, just underneath the skin," Broyles said.

Walter had already approached the body, and was even now uncovering it. "I'd like to get him back to the lab, of course," he said.

"We'll get a transport ready," Broyles agreed.

"So, you think he cut himself to try to rid himself from... whatever's inside him?" Olivia asked.

"It's a good bet. None of the coroners even wants to touch the body," Broyles said.

"Don't worry, I think we've got someone more than willing for that job," Peter said.

\---  
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

"Asprin! Come look at this," Walter called.

Astrid looked into the microscope. "It looks like ticks," she said.

"Yes. A genetically modified version. Apparently meant to attack a person from the inside," Walter said.

"Where did they come from?" Astrid asked.

"I have no idea," Walter admitted. "Say, do you think Gene ever wanted a calf?"

\---  
FBI BUILDING

"This footage was taken inside the elevator this morning," Broyles said, turning on the computer screen.

Olivia and Broyles watched for a while as people got on and off the elevator in fast-motion. Then, the elevator cleared out, and a singular man got on. Then they saw Tim Johnson run in. "Stop, right there," Olivia said. "Can we zoom in on them?"

The tech nodded, punching in buttons until Tim and the other man's face were in focus.

"Okay. Let me have this guy's picture" -she tapped on the strange man's face- "to run through the databases."

"Sure, no problem," the tech guy said.

Olivia pulled out her cell phone. "Peter? Can you do something for me? I'm sending you a picture..."

\---  
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

"Walter, how many times have we been over this? We are not breeding Gene," Peter said. Just then, his cell phone rang.

"Bishop's Bovine Brothel? Yeah, okay. Sure. I'll be right there," Peter said, ending the call.

"Walter? You stay here with Astrid and see what you can figure out. I'm going to go back to the scene - Olivia thinks she found a suspect."

\---  
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Peter wandered around the neighborhood, asking people if they recognized the man from the elevator. But no one had any memory of the man. Frustrated, Peter decided to go back to the building to search for clues.

The building had been cleared out after the victim's body had been found. Peter showed his FBI pass and entered. There wasn't much to see - nothing unusual or of interest in the lobby, anyway. Peter decided to get on the elevator where Tim had encountered their suspect, and he pushed "5" for the floor where Tim was found. Might as well retrace the victim's steps.

On the third floor, the elevator doors opened and the suspect was standing there, in front of the doors. "You. What's your name?" Peter asked.

The man just smiled, showing gaps in his teeth. Then he turned, and walked the other way.

"Hey. Hey! Stop!" Peter said, getting off of the elevator and following the man. The man sped up, running away. Peter ran after him, through hallways and conference rooms.

Finally, Peter had the other man trapped in a corner office- no where to go but out the door, and Peter blocked the way to that. "Come on, just talk to me," Peter said.

But the man turned and ran again - straight out the plate-glass window. Peter watched in shock. After a few moments to recover, Peter walked over to the window and looked down - but, he didn't see the man's body anywhere.

How, exactly, was he going to explain this one?

\---  
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

"No, I don't know where he went," Peter said into the phone. "Okay."

Peter sighed, closing the phone. "He was right there. I had him!"

"You couldn't know he'd run out the window," Astrid said. She noticed that Peter was scratching his arm. "You okay?"

"Huh? Oh, I dunno. It feels weird, like..." Peter stopped. _Like something was crawling under his skin._ He pushed up his sleeve, and turned over his arm. Then, he swallowed. "Astrid," he said. "I'm not okay... I think... it's what Tim Johnson had."

Astrid rushed over to his side, taking hold if his arm herself. She saw them, too - the ripples under the skin where the tick-like bugs crawled. "Come on, let's get you to Walter," she said, and kept hold of his arm as they walked to the empty cot towards the center of the room. "Walter?" she called. "Don't scratch," she said, when she saw him doing just that.

"Walter!" she called louder, finally rousing the scientist from his corner of the lab.

"Yes?"

"We've got a problem..."

\---  
Olivia rushed to the lab as soon as she hung up on Astrid. Someone else could search for the identity of their mystery elevator man for a while - this was personal.

"How is he?" Olivia asked Walter. He motioned her into the small office in the back of the lab.

"He's become infested with the same bugs as our victim, I believe," Walter said.

"So, how do we get rid of them?" Olivia asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Walter said. "I need more information."

Olivia bit her lip, and Walter came beside her.

"I know, Agent Dunham. I'm worried, too. But at least he's here."

Olivia nodded. At least he wouldn't injure himself, she thought. They would protect him from himself, if necessary.

\---

Meanwhile, Peter's body fought the invasion of genetically-modified ticks.

Olivia came out of the office and sat in a chair next to Peter's cot. "When we find this guy, he's going down," Olivia promised, taking one of Peter's hands in her own.

"Be careful," Peter said. "I don't know how he's doing it, but I think we can safely say this guy's infecting people with those bugs, somehow."

Olivia nodded. "We'll suit up somehow. We won't let him hurt anyone else."

Peter nodded, closing his eyes. "Wish I could be there to help you."

"I know," Olivia answered. "You just rest. Get better."

Olivia looked at the time, and decided to settle in here at the lab for the night. She didn't think she'd find anyone at this hour.

\---

In the middle of the night, Olivia was awoken by a strange sound. She quickly realized that one of Peter's monitors was going off. Astrid hurried over to his side, looking worried.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"His fever's too high," Astrid said. "He could suffer brain damage... even death if this goes on too long."

"What do we do?" Olivia asked.

"Time to break out the ice," Astrid said, going to the freezer.

As they iced Peter's pulse points, Olivia noticed something. "Hey, Astrid- look at this," she said.

There was a noticeable ripple as the ticks moved away from the source of cold.

"Walter," Astrid said. "Walter!" She called, shaking the scientist's shoulder.

Walter woke with a jolt. "What? Is something wrong with Peter?"

"Come look at this," Astrid said, bringing him to Peter's bedside.

Olivia moved the ice again, with the same result.

"I do believe we have found a way to get rid of these invaders," Walter said, and then went on to sketch out a plan.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Olivia asked.

"Very. But it's the only idea we have," Walter replied.  
\---

Walter drained the tank, and the three of them filled it with ice. They stripped Peter down to his boxers, and Walter injected him with a mild sedative. "It's probably better if he's not awake for this," Walter reasoned.

They carefully placed Peter's prone body into the tank, in the midst of the ice, with his head tilted to the side and his mouth opened.

Olivia could see the ripples throughout his body as the ticks tried to find a warm spot. Then suddenly, small creatures burst out of his skin in several places, while others came flowing out of his mouth, nose, and even his eyelids.

Olivia had to close her eyes at this site. She knew the image of those ticks bursting out of him would become the stuff of nightmares.

After a few minutes, Astrid touched her arm. "Olivia? It's over. We need to get him out, get him warm."

Walter had already taken Peter under the arm pits and dragged his body out of the tank. Astrid and Olivia brought the towels and blankets they had laid aside before placing Peter in the tank. By silent agreement, Astrid dried the top of Peter's body while Olivia started at his toes. They rubbed skin, hoping to aid circulation as they dried him off.

Walter brought around the cot, and somehow, the three of them managed to hoist Peter's body up onto it. Olivia and Astrid began the arduous task of cleaning and bandaging Peter's multitude of wounds, while Walter reconnected the monitors and injected Peter with what Astrid saw was a painkiller.

After finishing their doctoring, Astrid and Olivia wrapped Peter in blankets.

"He seems to be holding up okay," Astrid said after checking the monitors. "His body's been through a lot - he'll probably need a lot of sleep."

Olivia ran her fingers through her hair, sighing in relief. "In that case, I think I better catch a shower and a change of clothes before I head back into the office," she said. "You gonna be okay here with them?"

Astrid nodded, thinking to herself that a coffee run would probably be in order sooner rather than later.

\---

Once she had taken a shower, Olivia decided perhaps she'd take a short nap before going into work. _After all, it wasn't like there was--_ Just then, her cell phone rang.

"Dunham."

"Olivia, it's Broyles. They found the man from the elevator - Bernard McDonnell."

"When do we go in?"

"Olivia - someone already got to him. He's dead."  
\---

The next morning found Astrid, Walter, and Olivia in the lab again, all gathered by Peter's bedside.

"So, what you're saying is... whoever was behind this, they already killed the guy who could rat them out," Peter said.

Olivia nodded. "That's the theory, anyway. We don't think this could have been a random hit - not after he survived a three-story fall."

"Well, at least he's dead now," Astrid said.

Peter nodded. "Trust me, I feel better knowing that."

"How are you feeling, anyway?" Olivia asked.

"Like I've got a million paper cuts," Peter frowned.

"I could give you some nice drugs," Walter offered.

Peter glared at his father, but without much force. "No, Walter, I think I'll opt out of whatever drugs you're offering. Anyway, isn't it about time for you and I to go home?"

"But it's not even 10 am yet!" Walter argued.

"But we were here all day yesterday, and all night last night," Peter said.

"Actually, I think we could all use the day off to catch up on sleep," Olivia said. "Come on, Walter. I'll take you two home. Peter doesn't need to be driving yet."

"Hey, I won't argue. You said the magic word - home," Peter smiled.

"I dunno, I thought the magic word - words in that sentence were day off," Astrid replied.


End file.
